SMARK WORK

GCRP is investigating the implications of smart urbanism and big data on the way in which we live and work. We believe suburbs are no longer led by lanes, asphalt and gravel. Today, smart cities are led by high speed communication technology, big data, innovation, and creativity. Smart work arrangements don't just mean working from home. The idea of smart work is working in a space that allows you to be most productive for a given task. The time to shift towards smart work is now with the rise the creative economy and the roll out of the NBN. GCRP at the University of Canberra is embarking on a number of efforts to further understand the impacts of this phenomenon for society and the built environment.

NEW MIGRATION AND GLOBAL CITIES: A MELBOURNE PERSPECTIVE

This project is GCRP's second collaborative research effort with the now Commonwealth Department of Immigration and Border Protection. It aims to expand on the work of "Global Cities and Migration: A Sydney Perspective" to look at more short-term and transient forms of people movement, and to see if there are any substantial differences in people movement trends or habits between the Melbourne region and the Sydney region.

Housing and Sustainable Development in the Canberra Region

GCRP is providing background data for a proposed residential development straddling the ACT-NSW border at West Belconnen. This project has seen us deliver demographic, transport, and housing trends and projections, for both the ACT and surrounding region, to see how the proposed development can best meet the needs of future residents. It is also compiling a report as part of this collaboration, investigating cross-border relations between the ACT and southeast NSW since the 1960's.Further information on the proposed development can be found here.

Knowledge Workers in South East Queensland: Where do they work and where do they live?

This project saw GCRP assist Regional Development Australia's Sunshine Coast branch, to develop the business case for southeast Queensland to be considered as a digital hub. GCRP did this by analysing the number of workers in a range of knowledge industries across SE Queensland, by place of work and place of residence, to determine where digital hubs could best be located to not only meet demand, but reduce commuting distances for workers.

Sydney as a Global Talent Hub

GCRP was selected to assist the Committee for Sydney and the NSW Department of Trade and Investment to assist with a campaign to attract and retain more skilled workers in the Sydney region. GCRP assisted this campaign through analysis of migration and employment data for workers in a range of industries across the Sydney basin, and the formulation and analysis of a global survey of skilled workers that attracted more than 3,000 respondents.The Committee's final report, to which our research contributed, can be found here.

Is Canberra a Global City?

GCRP used last year's Centenary of Canberra to provoke debate about Canberra's place in the Global Cities hierarchy. While Canberra does not rate highly in global indices of major cities, it has many qualities (such as a knowledgeable and productive workforce, a base of political power and quality education, and liveability) that are capable of making Canberra more prominent not only within Australia, but across the world into the future.Click here to read the report.

URBAN COMPETITIVENESS INDEX - MEASURING THE COMPETITIVENESS OF AUSTRALIAN CITIES

This project is part of research building on the foundations of recent national urban policy initiatives. Reports such as “Our Cities, Our Future: A National Urban Policy for a Productive, Sustainable and Liveable Future”, and “State of Australian Cities” have inspired this research, which classifies the aspirations of Australia’s major cities into the three dimensions of productivity, sustainability and liveability. By showing the performance of Australia’s major cities in various aspects of these three dimensions, and the levels of influence these aspects have on urban competitiveness, this research can assist future decision-making and service provision by various levels of government.

Global Cities and Migration: A Sydney Perspective

GCRP's first major research venture was a collaborative work with the then Commonwealth Department of Immigration and Citizenship. It's aim was to explore trends involving social transformation, migration, and global cities, by using the Sydney region as a case study city.This research was borne of the need to find out more about the intertwining concepts of globalisation and urbanisation, and how they are affecting Australia's major cities. This includes issues such as:

Knowledge exchange - such as the movement of skilled migrants employed in advanced service industries; The social impacts of people movement to major cities - such as gentrification, social polarisation, and relative levels of advantage and disadvantage within areas across the Sydney region; Sydney's place as a Global City - including where Sydney might sit in a hierarchy of Global Cities, and how being a Global City has influenced people movement to the Sydney region. Sydney's role as a global city sees it act as a gateway to Australia for flows of people, business, and international trade; a base for many Trans-National Companies (TNCs); and our largest city by population. As a result, the Sydney region has increasingly become a base for major business transactions and social interaction, attracting people from all over the world to live, work, and exchange knowledge and ideas.Publications from this work include:Migrant Knowledge Workers: An Empirical Study of Global Sydney as a Knowledge City